The Wests Tigers are a mess, but blaming Michael Maguire is a mistake

Yep. Blame Ivan Cleary and Robbie Farah. Farah's selfishnes when he was dropped undermined coach JT. While the management fluffed around and failed to commit to the coach, three star players walked out the door. Then in comes Ivan and starts throwing cash around stuffing the salary cap with Lolohea, Packer, Matulino, Reynolds... who are where, exactly right now? Maguire has 11 players off contract at the end of next year. There is a BIG clean out coming at the Tigers. Let Madge put his team together, and give them a year or tow to gel. Tigers will be regular top 4 from 2022 onwards.

I have an nrl ladder on my bar fridge. Every Monday night I update it.hardly touched it this year. Wouldn't be surprised if the tigers don't even know that Ado-Carr wants to come back to Sydney.

Benji wasn't "moved on". He just wasn't re-signed.

Nonsense. These dud coaches always "make a big, controversial call" early on in their tenure. See Kearny moving on Sean Johnson and retiring Mannering. Henry moving Hayne to centre to accommodate Roberts. McGregor moving on Benji because he nor any other of around 10 SGI halfbacks could strike up a combination with Widdop. Seibold moving on several players. Now McGuire dropping Benji when he was leading the Dally M, after one bad game where he was far from the Tigers worst.

What do we do when they take up residence at Liverpool? I am not sure its that big an issue, especially with TV coverage that the game has. They are a JV and have old fans from both clubs.

It was just bad timing for Benji, if Josh or perhaps Luke’s contracts were up, then I am sure one of them or both, would have gone before Benji. It’s salary cap management.

You criticise Brooks 32 missed tackles, without noting he has fewer misses than most of other halfbacks in the top 8 - all of whom have better players defending inside and out. But the real problem with this article, like so many others, is it is predicated on this false narrative that the Tigers should be making finals every year. We shouldn't - and I'm a 30+ year fan. We don't have the players to make finals and if anything we've over-achieved in finishing 9th. Why are the Tigers being judged against Parramatta, Penrith (who by the way we finished higher than last year) and the Roosters when in fact with our roster we should be judged against the likes of the Dragons and Bulldogs (both of whom we've beaten this year). This is absolutely NOT me accepting mediocrity and neither should the club. But we aren't going to be competitive until we can undergo a full roster overhaul. The problem isn't just the media, it's the Tigers from the CEO and Coach to Captain instilling this ridiculous belief that we can challenge. Most Tigers fans know that we are a year or two away from clearing the salary cap mess Cleary ran up with his reckless spending but we do so having already blooded junior talent like Talau, Macintyre, Liddle, Walters, Mikaele, Garner, Seyfarth et al. The Tigers probably won't play finals next year either, so start your ten year stories now ... but the one part of the article I do agree with is that Maguire is the guy to turn it around. So long as the Board don't screw this up, the Tigers will be fine.

Toxic is a bit severe to describe the Tigs. Hard appears to be a constant theme when people are referring to them.Hard Coach,Hard to fathom,Hard to gel,Hardin up,Hard up.NRL is a Hard tough sport ,but some times you need a bit of supplety and finesse to get the best results.

Half the supporter base have never been to Campbelltown. And never will. It is a marriage that was never meant to be, although yielding a premiership well over a decade ago. The toxic culture mentioned runs into the fan base deeply. If you ask the authors dad whom he supports he will say “Balmain Tigers”. It’s a standing joke that the teams when they turn up in black and white with a splotch of orange on it, they play like wests. Perennial losers. If the amalgamation dissolves it wont make any difference. The tigers have no money to stay where they should at Leichhardt, but wests will implode through their own hand of inability. It is doomed

As an old Balmain Tigers fan I could not agree more. They have to make Campbelltown there home for the future. Maybe 1 or 2 games a year on a Sunday arvo at LO for the romantics, but it is a business and winning is that business! Also, they should be going to the NRL as the Cowboys do to get the games on at times that suit their target crowd.

McGuire sounds like he’s a bit like Brian Smith was. Very tough on players, expects results or they are on the outer, but also is only effective for a few years before he wears everyone out and has burned all relationships. Not sure who his assistants are but you still need to have a bit of nuture to offset all the nasty.

Maguire has taken them from 9th to 10th. He's got to go.

Yep its hard to build a strong home ground advantage, especially when they are using three venues ( Bankwest, Leichhardt and Campbelltown). Campbelltown should be their long term base. They should use the south west corridor to their advantage.

Couldn't agree more

The signings the lub has made are the main problem and it is not something you can blame on Madge. You can't say that players can't have a hard task master as a coach as the 2 most successful currently are Belly-ache and Robbo. Neither is know for their soft approach. Cleary has parachuted into a great situation at the Panthers and it has nothing to do with anything he has done apart from Siring their best player. The team was built by others and were on the verge before he got back there, and he is only back there as the Panthers thought that Nathan would leave if Daddy did not get the job!

It is hard for a club to create a culture when that club doesn't have an identity. Whether it is Concord or Campbelltown (it should be Campbelltown) - Just pick a place, call it home and start to build a franchise.

"That’s where the Tigers are – a toxic club and organisation". Gee, I reckon this is a harsh comment. This is the same Club that brokered the first trade/swap with Grant & Momirovski. How is that an indicator of an organisation that's "stuck in it's ways"? IMO, they're way ahead of a number of Clubs in key areas. They've got a first rate coach and a super loyal fan base. Yes, they've got some players who are past their use by dates, but they recognise that and are in the process of doing something about it. If they can get a settled Board and couple that with some astute recruiting, I see no reason what they can't make huge strides in the next season or two.

Tigers seemed to have learnt their lesson with "player power". They have stuck by Maguire over Marshall. People will blame Maguire because he lost the dressing room at Souths. The issue there was the players got fat and sassy after winning the comp and rested on their laurels. Maguire wanted them to keep the same work ethic that got them the title. The Tigers have a mix of overpaid experience thanks to Cleary (Reynolds, Taylor, Packer, Mbye, McQueen) and a lot of young players. From the outside some of the senior players on fat contracts don't really want to do the hard stuff on the field and on the training paddock. This is influencing the younger guys (look at the ages of the guys in the 17). Maguire is a hard task master and this causing the clash. If the Tigers can cut these guys loose (even paying overs for a season to another club) it will make 2021 a better season for the club. Bring in a couple of seasoned players to lead the young guys. The clubs hands are tied with too much paid to underperfomers and too much in certain positions. Foran on the cheap would be a great addition, but they have 57 halves on the books already

McGuire may well be a hard taskmaster and some of the players may be lazy and have poor attitudes. And there’s no doubt some good players are underperforming. But the club and previous coaches have promoted a culture of; “create enough dissent and get some influential club figures on your side and your problem will be sacked for you.” The senior players got Michael Potter sacked. Make enough noise, create enough support and the club won’t look at you, they’ll go after the coach. Cleary punted and recruited a few players but when something better came calling he jumped. What message does that send to players? Everyone needs to be on the bus....but I’m getting off at the first stop. When a CEO isn’t getting immediate results they don’t work with the person, they punt them. When players aren’t playing well the current coach abuses them and flogs them as his regular reaction. How do you build a core of resilience and effort in a club when their “go to option” for years has been to fix their problems by treating people badly and, in some instances, accepting and siding with their employees own treachery? Someone needs to inject an ethos into the place that if you are playing badly and visibly not putting a genuine effort in, you need to perform well personally before we begin to listen to your opinions about the coach. Don’t blame the coach if you are missing tackles or dropping passes. Right now the club and players still think the best solution is to keep shuffling people and contracts to fix problems. All that’s going to do is give you pretty much the same quality of person with probably the same poor ethics.

I'm not so sure the team haven't over performed in general for a fair while. I've looked at their roster at the start of each season and I've seen an outfit who look like mounting a challenge for the spoon. They had some outstanding teams under Sheens and possibly could have won another title but the optimism in signing Maguire as coach because he had won titles in England and Australia was always misplaced in my view. Try naming the teams best player off the top of your head? I'm struggling myself. A few teams outside the 8 have a core of great players who could lead the clubs to boogey wonderland pretty soon but I can't see that core at the Tigers at the moment.